


This Ain't Kansas, Toto

by USA_Tiger



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Humor, M/M, Modern Character in Thedas, Self-Insert, messing with the timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2018-05-22 19:23:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6091489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USA_Tiger/pseuds/USA_Tiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to a small mistake in the Blood Mage Uldred’s summoning circle, a girl from Earth soul is dragged over space and time and dropped into the Dragon Age world, right into the body of a male Elven mage that just so happens to share her name. Now with the help of Gabe Surana, this misplaced girl has to find a way back home without getting herself or her host’s body killed!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This Ain’t Kansas, Toto

Author: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragon Age, it’s property of BioWear. But the original character ‘Christen’ does belong to me.

Author Note: I’ve always found self-insert type fics to be a pretty interesting and funny read and I’ve always wanted to write one myself. So this is my first ever attempt at trying a fic like this, so ‘Christen’ is based a lot off me and how I thought I might react to some situations. And…. umm… one of the ideas that uses here is totally Asilyessam’s fault! <_<   >_> She put the idea in my head!

And Christen is a guy’s name, was a bit shocked to find it on a list of boy names.

Also Asilyessam is my beta for this ficy.

Warnings: Ah… a couple of same sex couples, not your cup of tea please hit the back button. And a lot of cursing on my character’s part.

 

Chapter 1

 

Christen had always had a great fondness for video games, one could almost call her an addict in fact. It had always been one of her favorite things to do, other than reading or watching movies of course, and a perfect way to pass the time during the weekends. It had been that way ever since her step-father’s Nintendo and continued on from there.

As such, she was sitting on her bed playing one of her favorites on her game system, Dragon Age. Oh it wasn’t her all time favorite series, that honor still belonged to the Zelda games, but it certainly was up there. And what wasn’t there to like about Dragon Age? She loved a good story and loved how you could change the storyline just slightly by making different choices each play through. She loved the characters, some more than others, she loved creating her own character within the game and giving them a back story.

But, if there was one thing she didn’t like about the first game, which she was currently playing, it was the amount of glitches in the game. Christen had never played a game that had so many bloody glitches in it!

“Not again,” Christen groaned as her game froze up. This was the third time the game had just up and froze on her like this. Not bad considering she only had a copy of the game for a couple of months, but it was no less annoying. “Thank god I save my game already,” She muttered to herself as she tried to get the game to unfreeze, pressing the PS3 button on top of the controller. When that didn’t work she sighed and blew at the lock of hair hanging in front of her face, groaning softly as she pulled herself out of the comfortable position she had taken up while playing.

“Every freakin’ time,” She muttered as she walked over to the system, pressing on the power button to turn it off. Not true of course, she only had this happen to her twice as stated before, but Christen tended to be a complainer at times even when there was no one but herself to complain to. She tapped her fingers against her leg as she waited for the Playstation to turn off… and waited… and waited. “Tha fuck… don’t tell me it completely fucked up my system… damn it.” She groaned and stood up, the game was still frozen and for whatever reason the system wasn’t turning off when she pressed the power button.

She sighed and looked down at the power strips under her entertainment center, she had more than one game system after all and wasn’t sure right off the top of her head with power cord when to which system, except her Wii U but only because the cord was grey. Sighing Christen got down onto her hands and knees on the floor to try and figure out which cord was which, she didn’t want to accidently unplug her VCR or anything after all.

As Christen attempted to backtrack the cords to find the one that went to her Playstation 3, a crackling sound above her head caught her attention. Alarmed she quickly sat back on her heels and looked up.

“Oh shit!” She yelled her TV has sparks and little arcs of lightning coming from the screen going white. Scrambling to her feet Christen started to back away, hazel eyes widening as what looked like a large ghostly hand coming out of the TV. In her fright it never occurred to her to make a break for her bedroom door, instead backing up the short space of her room until the back of her legs hit the edge of her bed and sent her tumbling backwards onto it. The hand seems to lunge forward and grabbed at Christen who screamed loudly before everything went black.

 

*************

 

Senior Enchanter Uldred chuckled to himself as he finished the blood magic ritual from the safety of his private quarters in the Tower of Magi. He had studied the ritual for weeks, one that would placed a Demon of the Fade into a mage’s body of his choosing. He had been working for the last few months on teaching as many mages and apprentice mages as he could blood magic so they could finally break their bonds from the Templars and the Chantry.

 _‘I will show that weak fool Irving that this is the only way to go,’_ Uldred thought in glee, his lips curling up into a sinister smile. He would have continued to work personally with his many ‘students’ in blood magics, he recently ensnared that fool Jowan who was close to Irving’s student Amell and hoped to use the boy to get closer to Amell. If he could get Irving’s favorite to become a blood mage… well that would crush the old man for sure. But he and the other Senior Enchanters had been informed that they would be heading to Ostagar in the morning to assist the King’s army in an upcoming battle. Uldred could hardly refuse the request; he was after all one of the higher ranking members of the Circle of Magi and as far as anyone knew a champion of the light.

That left him with a problem, he could hardly teach the other mages blood magic if he was not there within the tower and he was afraid if they were left alone for too long, one of the mages might get cold feet and confess to Irving and that fool Greagior. So he needed someone to teach in his place and what better than a Fade Demon? And the perfect host had dropped into his lap that night, one of the apprentices had just gone through their Harrowing, a Elven youth who was unremarkable in every way and no one really noticed. A timid thing really, Uldred was doing the youth a favor by doing this.

Amazingly the youth had passed their Harrowing and was now vulnerable to Uldred’s spell and to the Fade Demon, weakened by the test. Uldred was not foolish enough to try this while the Elf was still trapped within the Fade by the Harrowing, Greagior would know instantly and kill the youth before the Demon could do anything. But by waiting until after the youth passed their test and left on their bed to recover from the test, it gave Uldred the window he needed. By now the Pride Demon he had contacted should have devoured the Elf’s soul and taken over their body, taking over teaching the Mages blood magic until he returned to the Tower. And since the youth was such a wallflower and not many people paid attention to them, no one would notice the Elf’s actions as long as the demon inside was careful.

Chuckling to himself, Uldred started to clean up his work space, only a fool would leave evidence behind for the Templars to find after all. So sure in his success he never noticed that the ritual circle he created to power his spell had one tiny mistake on it, one line completely out of place. But the one line was more than enough to completely change the spell. Uldred never noticed the mistake as he quickly clean the circle away.

 

*************

 

First thing Christen noticed as she woke back up was that her head was _killing_ her, it felt like a hammer was repeatedly smashing against her forehead and she couldn’t help the small grunt of pain that escaped.

“Oh! You’re finally awake,” A male voice said to the side of her. “I was starting to worry, are you ok?”

“I have got a headache from hell,” Christen said as she rubbed her forehead. She wasn’t sure but there was something…off… about her voice just now.

“Hell? Never mind, here this should help,” the person beside her said as something was pressed into her hand. Christen cracked open an eye, looking at what turned out to be a small vial full of shimmering liquid in her hand… and her hand looked a little larger yet slimmer than she remembered.

“Tha fuck is this?” She asked. “Look, can I just have an aspirin or something like that?”

“I-it’s a potion for you headache,” The person beside said in a confused tone. “Christen, are you alright? You’re acting strange.” It occurred to Christen that something really weird was going on, she didn’t know who the fuck was talking to her and what the hell did they mean by ‘potion’? Sitting up and turning to her left, she startled a bit when she got a good look at the person knelt beside her bed.

“Who the fuck are you?” She asked. It was a guy, who looked like he was in his late teens to early 20’s. He had soft looking shoulder length black hair and warm brown eyes that was looking at her in confusion and worry. But the real kicker was his ears, peeking out between the black locks of hair was a pair of long ears that came to a sharp point.

“What… Christen, it’s me Gabe,” The Elf said. “Are you alright? You’re acting really strange. Did something happen to you during your Harrowing?”

“How do you know my name?” Christen asked with a raised eyebrow then laughed. “Oh I get it, this is a prank, someone put you up to this. Don’t know who off the top of my head, this some part of some reality TV show? And cool ears dude, they almost… look… real?” As she spoke Christen reached up to touch Gabe’s ears, but instead of feeling rough, cold latex under her fingers the skin was smooth and warm. Blinking she parted Gabe’s hair so she could look at his ear, running a finger along the elongated lobe and couldn’t find where the fake ear ended and the real ear started. “Holy fuck! Are those real?!”

“Of course they are real,” Gabe said worry in his voice as he pulled away from Christen’s touch. “Just like your ears are real.”

“What? Really?” Christen blinked then reached up to her ears, eyes wide as her fingers trailed up her ears which was much longer than before and came to a point. “Ho-ly shit…. I’m a freakin Elf!”

“I’m really starting to worry about you,” Gabe said. “Maybe you should see the healers, something must have happen during your Harrowing…”

“I can’t believe I’m an Elf, this has got to be a dream,” Christen said in a giddy tone. “Hmm? Harrowing?”

“That’s it, you’re seeing the healer,” Gabe said as he stood up and pulled Christen up after him.

“Hey!” Christen yelped as she was pulled off the bed, tripping over her own feet and into the other Elf. “Oooff!”

“Careful there,” Gabe said as he helped Christen to stand up straight.

“Ow… that really hurt my head,” Christen grumbled as her head swam with pain, hissing as she pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Drink the potion then, it’ll take care that headache,” Gabe said in amusement. Christen frowned, her forehead furrowing as she turned back to the bed were she dropped the potion vial.

“Well this is a weird ass dream, can’t be any harm in drinking it,” She said as she leaned over to grab the vial, one hand braced on the bed. She frowned again as she realized she didn’t feel a familiar weight on her chest. Quickly standing back up, Christen felt her chest in a panic. “Where the fuck are my tits!?!”

“Umm… Christen you never had…. ‘tits’….” Gabe said in hurried embarrassed whispered, his face flushed. He could feel a couple of Templars watching them and could even hear their faint laughter as they watched Christen freak out. Christen reached down and felt between her legs… or his legs she guess she should say cause she had the plumbing of a guy not a girl.

“Oh shit,” she… err he? Said in a whisper. “I’m a fucking dude. This has got to be the weirdest dream I ever had…. I think I know what Ranma feels like now.” She, for now she was just going to keep thinking of herself as a she cause it was too weird to do so otherwise, was comparing herself to the fiction character from one of her favorite animes Ranma 1/2, where the main character changed into a girl when splashed with cold water.

Christen’s mind was starting to freak out just a tiny bit, here she was in the body of a guy Elf who just so happen to have the same name as her. Gabe, at least she thought that was what the Elf said his name was, was going on about healers, had given her a potion for her headache and had mentioned the Harrowing. Casting a quick look around Christen saw she was in a room with a large amount of bunks beds that looked a lot like the apprentice dorms from the Tower of Magi in Dragon Age Origins. Other people in the room were wearing those stupid looking mage robes, a quick glance at herself showed she was wearing them too and so was Gabe, and a man along the wall looked like a Templar. All in all, it appeared she was in the Tower of Magi which was impossible!

Groaning again, all this just made her headache worse, Christen glanced down at the vial still in her hand and sighed.

 _‘Well nothing for it, my headache is killing me and I don’t think I’m going to get a ibuprofen any time soon,’_ She thought as she popped the cork out of the top and drank it the same way she would a whiskey or vodka in a shot glass. The potion was thick and worst than any cough syrup she had the displeasure of tasting. “Oh my god that shit tastes horrible,” Christen said, making a fake gagging sound and sticking her tongue out.

“But your head feels better doesn’t it?” Gabe asked. Christen had to admit that yes the headache was quickly going away, didn’t make the potion taste any less horrible.

“Still tastes nasty,” Christen said sitting back on the bed and cradling her head between her hands. “Man this is the weirdest thing that has ever happen to me.”

“I still think you should see the healers,” Gabe said in worry, he had never seen his friend act like this ever in his life. He didn’t _think_ there was a demon in his friend’s body, if a demon had entered his friend during his Harrowing then the Knight-commander Greagoir would have had Christen killed already and he didn’t think the man would have missed something like that. Plus if it was a demon, wouldn’t it have started attacking people already?

Christen’s head snapped up, she didn’t know if the healers here in this place would be able to tale if she was their Christen or not but she didn’t want to chance it, just in case this wasn’t a weird ass dream she was having.

“Nooo nonono,” She said waving her hands. “Look I know I’m acting really really weird right now, just let me gather my thoughts and I’ll explain. I don’t need to see any healers!” Gabe frowned then slowly nodded, something strange was going on with his friend, but he would give the other Elf a chance to explain.

 _‘Maybe not a demon but the Harrowing has to have done something to his mind,’_ Gabe thought. “Well if you’re sure… then you are to go see Irving then.”

“Why?” Christen asked with a raised eyebrow.

“So he can welcome you into the Circle of Magi,” Gabe said as if that should be common knowledge. “You know he does that with all the new Circle Mages.” No Christen didn’t know that, she knew that in the game he spoke to either Amell or Surana, depending on which character you played, after they passed their test but she always figured that was because those two characters was his favorite students plus a ploy for them to meet Duncan.

“Oh… ok then,” She said as she stood. “I guess I’ll go see him then.”

“Come on, I’ll walk up there with you,” Gabe offered. Christen was a bit grateful for that, she wasn’t sure if this tower was just like in the game or not and didn’t want to get lost.

 

**********

 

Christen was glad that Gabe was there to guide her through the tower because she only had a vague idea where she was going right now. Kinloch Hold, or the Tower of Magi as she was use to calling it, more or less was laid out just like in the game but it was a lot _bigger_. The library they just passed through was larger and had more shelves and books in it than she remembered from the game. The next floor had more rooms to it, made to hold from 1 person to 3 people inside. And there were a couple of more stairwells that had not been in the game that lead to more floors than had been in the game that contained even more rooms, something she remembered reading about in the first Dragon Age book, and Gabe even pointed out where the Healing rooms were just in case Christen changed her mind and wanted to go see them she guessed.

And the people, there were more mages, both human and Elf, Templars and Chantry people here than had been in the game. Which made perfect sense really when you stopped to think about it; Christen had always had a theory that the places and people you saw in the games was nothing but a small fraction of what was really there.

And how everything looked… it was… a bit surreal if Christen was honest. It didn’t look realistic, not in the way she would see the world back home, but it didn’t look like a cartoon either. If she had to try to put words to what everything looked like she would have to say it looked a lot like really good 3D computer animation, like in what they used in the movies instead of the games. Not bad to look at the least but there was look to everything that reminded Christen that this wasn’t home at all, not the real world as it were. But beyond that everything seem to function the same like it would in the real world. She could smell the scents in the air, and not all of it was pleasant let her tell you. Could hear the sounds from all around her, and Elven earring was a lot better than humans she found.

When she touched something, she could really feel it under her finger tips. And when she pinched her arm she could really feel the pain.

 _‘This has either got to be the most lucid dream I have ever had or this isn’t a dream,’_ Christen thought to herself. And that brought problems all of its own. And questions, many many questions. Like how did she even get here? How did she end up in the body of an Elven guy? And how the fuck was she going to get back home? All these questions, and many more, were put into the back of her mind as they reached Irving’s office. Gabe knocked on the door and Irving’s voice, which sounded just like it did from the game, sounded on the other side.

“You may come in,” Gabe opened the door and motioned for Christen to enter.

“I’ll wait out here for you,” He whispered as the other Elf passed him. Christen just gave him the barest nod as she entered the office looking around curious. It was a lot more cluttered than she remembered it in the game, books and what looked magical artifacts were everywhere in the room. On the top of the tables, on the shelves of the book cases and even on the floor. Christen wasn’t sure what it reminded her more of; Dumbledore’s office in the Harry Potter movies or Merlin’s house in the Sword in the Stone then thought it might be a mix of both. Just for a second she looked around for Fawkes the phoenix or Archimedes the owl, silently laughing to herself.

“Welcome my child,” Irving said with a warm welcoming smile as he stood from his desk and walked around it to greet Christen. “Congratulations my boy for passing your Harrowing and allow me to welcome you to the Circle of Magi.”

“Thank you sir,” Christen said just barely keeping herself from telling Irving she wasn’t a ‘boy’ since to Irving and everyone else she was a boy being a guy’s body. “I’m happy to have passed.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will be a great asset to the circle my child,” Irving said with another smile and turned to his desk picking up the items on top. “Here are your circle mage robes, your circle Magi ring and your official magi foci staff.” Christen took the robes and hooked the staff into the crook of her arm, slipping the ring over her thumb to keep it from falling to the floor.

“Thanks,” She said. _‘Why the hell do robes always look like dresses?’_ She wondered to herself.

“You will also be pleased to hear that you have the rest of the day to yourself to rest and move into your new rooms,” Irving continued. “I have arranged for you to share a room with your friend Gabe Surana.”

“T-thank you sir,” Christen managed to get out over her shock. _‘That Gabe guy is Surana!?’_ She couldn’t believe it, of all the people she first ended up talking to, it was one of the two mage origin characters! Though she was sure Surana’s default name wasn’t ‘Gabe’ but didn’t know what it was either as she always renamed the characters. She only remembered what the male origin Dalish’s name was off the top of her head.

“I will not take up any more of your time, enjoy the rest of your day my child and welcome again to the Circle,” Irving said as he guided the shell-shocked Christen out of his office. As he closed the door he thought Christen was acting a little strange but then again he didn’t know the young Elven boy that well as he wasn’t one of his regular students.

“Christen,” Gabe said with a smile as his friend stepped out of the office. “Is everything alright?”

“Huh? Oh yeah sure,” Christen said. “Irving said I had the day off, also said I’m sharing a room with you.”

“He accepted my request?” Gabe asked with a grin. “I wasn’t sure if he would but I’m glad he’s allowing us to share a room. Come, let’s go get your things and take them up to our room then.”

“Yeah sure, lead the way bub,” Christen said. Gabe wondered at the ‘bub’ thing but didn’t say anything as he led the way back downstairs.

 

************

 

It didn’t take long at all to gather Christen’s stuff, the other Christen that was and how weird was it that this other Elf has the same name as her, as they hadn’t wanted to wait on the Tranquiled servants to get the Elf’s things. Christen wondered if the Elf Christen spelt his name the same was as her, it wasn’t a common spelling after all as most people preferred to spell it with a ‘K’ as oppose with a ‘Ch’. Anyway, the other Christen didn’t have much in the way of belongings. It was sad really how few things the Elf had, a couple of books, a little hand carved statue that sorta looked like a crude Elf, what looked like a strip of cloth. The clothing in the foot locker stayed as it was apprentice robes and Gabe assured Christen that the wardrobe in their room would have all the Circle Mage robes she would need.

The room Gabe led her to wasn’t _too_ bad, it was bloody cold as hell but it was alright looking she guessed. There were no windows to look outside, Gabe looked at Christen strangely when she pointed this out and said only the First Enchanter and the Senior Enchanters had windows in their rooms. The room had a full size bed on either side of the room with a short wall between the two beds and a couple of large book cases back to back in front of the wall to separate the room at least somewhat. Both sides of the room had a wardrobe and a vanity table. Behind the wall between the beds was a small bathroom area with a low stone tub and a wooden bucket that served as a toilet. Christen figured Gabe got the nice room with the good tub because he was Irving’s favorite as she remembered the other mages’ rooms had a small metal wash tube that sat in their ‘room’ area and not hidden behind a wall like the guest room Duncan would be given in the game.

 _‘Ugh, I am so not looking forward to using that thing,’_ Christen thought to herself as she stared at the bucket and suddenly really missed plumbing. The bucket _looked_ clean at least at the moment and hoped it wasn’t them that had to clean the things. She kinda figured one of the Tranquil mages in the tower might end up doing it, it’s not like they would complain about the job being cut off from their feelings like they were.

Currently Christen was standing in front of the vanity table looking into the mirror as she tried to gather her thoughts. She was still half convinced this was all just a really weird dream.

 _‘Wow… me and this Elf guy share more than just a name… well looks wise anyway,’_ Christen still couldn’t get over the fact she was in a guys body. And they really did share a lot of looks, they had the same dark brown hair, his was longer than how she wore her’s brushing against his shoulders while she usually kept her’s cut really short. The same green hazel eyes, same skin tone. The face wasn’t completely the same, her’s had always been on the round side while this other Christen had more of an angler face. But she thought that might be an Elven thing. And let’s not forget the whole age thing, this boy looked like he was in his late teens. One thing she was happy about, she didn’t look like the Elves from the second Dragon Age game.

 _‘Ok, so let’s just say this isn’t a dream,´_ Christen thought to herself. _‘That somehow all of this is real. That I’m really in the world of Dragon Age, how the fuck did I get here and how the hell do I get back? I mean, how is this even possible? Sure, there are boat loads of self insert fics out there, and there are cartoons and movies about stuff like this but none of it is real. And what do I do with myself here? I don’t want to be stuck in this tower for god knows how long, not if I want to get the hell out. The best bet is Duncan and the Grey Wardens but I don’t know for sure if Duncan will come here to the tower, if he hadn’t already. Not that I want to be a Warden, cause I sure as hell don’t want to drink Darkspawn blood. Ok, first things first, try to figure out just_ when _I am on the timeline.’_

“Hey Gabe, question,” Christen said as she turned around to look at the other Elf, sitting on the edge of the vanity table and crossing her arms over her chest. Her very, very flat chest… this was going to take getting use to…

“Yes?” Gabe asked as he looked up from the book he was reading. Or trying to read anyway, his friend was acting so strangely and it had him worried. It was like he didn’t know anything, at least not the small details.

“Did anything major happen lately?” Christen asked.

“Such as?” Gabe asked back.

“I don’t know, anything that comes to mind,” the other Elf said. Gabe sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well… I did hear this morning while I was waiting for you to wake up many of the Senior Enchanters have left the tower,” Gabe said. “Something about going to help King Cailan’s army but I don’t know much more than that.”

“The army huh? Hmmm… well that gives me a bit better idea…” Christen said to herself, leaning her head back to look at the tall ceiling. Gabe huffed and stood up, tossing his book onto his bed and went to stand in front of Christen.

“Christen, will you please explain what is going on? You have been acting very strange since you woke up,” Gabe said. Christen sighed softly and looked Gabe in the eye, really she owned it to the Elf to tell him what the hell was going on, or try to tell him anyway. She was going to need help with all this.

“Okay look, yer gonna want to sit down for this cause I’m gonna said sounds really really impossible,” She said at last. Gabe gave her a searching look and slowly sat down on the edge of his bed again.

“Alright… so tell me then, try to make me understand,” He said. Christen sighed and started to pace a bit, trying to figure out just what to tell the teen. One thing was for sure, telling Gabe that this whole world was a video game series was out of the question. It would be difficult to explain what a video game was for one, still maybe she could still spin it to where she didn’t mention the games themselves.

“Okay, let me start by saying I really have no idea how this happened nor did I want it to happen,” Christen said as she came to a stop in front of the other mage. “I am not your friend Christen.”

“What do you mean? Are you a spirit?” Gabe asked.

“No no, I’m not a spirit,” Christen said with a quick shake of her head. “And I’m not a demon either before you ask. Look I’m… well… let’s just say I’m from a really far off place. I’m human, or at least my world’s version of a human which isn’t really that much different from this world’s humans. Yeah in body I’m your Elfy friend but my spirit? Soul? Mind? However you wanna look at it, I’m not him. Somehow I got put into his body.”

“Uh-huh… then where is the real Christen then?” Gabe asked a little skeptical as the whole story sounded a little far-fetched.

“I have no clue dude,” Christen said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe he’s in my body… which is terrifying to think about. The point is, I’m stuck in your friend’s body somehow with no clue how I got here and no clue how the hell to fix it.”

“This sounds a little unbelievable,” Gabe said.

“How do you think I feel? Part of me is sure this is a freakin’ dream,” Christen said with a groan as she sat down beside Gabe on the bed then laid back on it.

“For the sake of argument, let’s say you are telling the truth,” Gabe said. “Just who are you then? Besides a human from another world that is.”

“Well my name _is_ Christen, if you haven’t guessed that already. My world is called Earth and it’s in a galaxy far far away from here. To put it bluntly, I’m a 30 year old human woman stuck in the body of a teenage Elven boy. Do you have any idea how weird this is?” Christen asked as she sat up.

“That would explain why you freaked out this morning,” Gabe said. The story was very strange, and part of him didn’t want to believe it. A human woman, from another world, in the body of his friend? Was he supposed to really believe that? Yet, Christen seemed convinced it was true and really he had nothing else to go on at the moment. “Why did you ask me if anything happen this morning?”

“Alright look I kinda… know things that are going to happen very soon,” Christen said. “Not concrete things but I got a really good idea. All those mages left cause your king’s army is fighting Darkspawn to the south near the Korcari Wilds. Let me tell ya, you got a full on Blight on your hands.”

“A Blight? As in Darkspawn attacking, Archdemon appearing Blight?” Gabe asked his mouth wide open. “Wait, if you’re not from this world how do you even know all this?”

“Well your world is lore in my world, not everything but a lot of the important stuff ya know?” Christen said. “But there are a lot of different ways your world’s history can play out. I only know the really basic stuff and have some idea of what can happen though that doesn’t mean it will. But I asked so I can get an idea of when I am in your world.”

“So do you?” Gabe asked.

“A bit yeah. Hey, off topic sorta, but is there somebody who’s last name is Amell here?” Christen asked.

“Well yes, Nash Amell. He’s still an apprentice, he hasn’t gone through his Harrowing yet. You do know what a Harrowing is right?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah yeah, touch lyurim, go into the Fade, see if you can fight off a demon,” Christen said. “He’ll be going through his Harrowing pretty soon. So maybe if we’re lucky… hmmm…” If this Nash Amell guy hadn’t gone through the Harrowing yet, then there was still a chance Duncan could come to the tower, at least she hoped so.

“What are you thinking?” Gabe asked.

“Ways we can maybe leave this tower, nothing concrete yet of course,” Christen said then sighed and laid back again, rubbing her face with both hands. “Man, this is so fucked up.”

“Leave the tower?” Gabe asked as he turned to look down at Christen.

“Well yeah, you don’t want to stay here do you?” Christen asked her hands pressing against her forehead as she looked up at the other Elf. “I gotta find out how this whole thing happen and how to reverse it. And I also don’t want to stick around this hell hole cause I might do something really stupid to those Templars.” No Gabe didn’t want to stay at the tower, very few Mages did. While he had an easier time living here than most Mages did, he never caused any trouble for the Templars so in turn they never had reason to bother him, it didn’t mean he wanted to live the rest of his life in this manner. His friend Christen too had also had a quiet life in the tower, he was so shy and quiet that most people forgot he was even there.

“Can you not just approach Irving and the other elder mages for help?” Gabe asked.

“And tell them what? What I told you?” Christen asked. “Somehow I don’t think they would take it as easily as you did. If they can somehow tell I am a different person in this body they may call me a demon and just kill me which means your friend dies. I kinda like the whole ‘living’ thing and I’m sure you don’t want your friend’s body to die before I can somehow put both of us back where we belong.” Gabe admitted to himself that Christen might have a point.

“Alright fine, maybe you have a point,” He said with a sigh. “I don’t have any more of a clue to what is going on than you.” Christen’s lip quirked slightly into a smile.

“You don’t really believe me do you?” She asked. Gabe sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Part of me does yet a large part of me thinks…. Well I don’t know what to think,” He said. “You’re different right now, I can see that much. You seem to believe what you told me and I don’t sense anything evil about you, if you were a demon in that body I would think you would have attacked people by now.”

“Alright, understandable. If my best friend told me all that I might ask her what the hell she was smoking too,” Christen said as she sat up. “Just keep an open mind ne?”

“Alright,” Gabe said. “So what do we do now?”

“Err… Your Christen is a mage right? So I think you’re gonna have to teach me to use magic cause I have no idea how to,” Christen said.

“You’ve forgotten how to use your magic?” Gabe asked in surprise.

“Hey, I can’t use magic in my world,” Christen pointed out. “So I don’t have a clue how any of it works.” Gabe sighed and nodded then started to give Christen a brief lesson in how to access her mana and how to use spells.

 

***********

 

Magic spells were both harder yet at the same time easier to learn than Christen thought they would be. Most of them were tied to emotions, she had used the healing spell by being calm. Not an easy state for her to be in even on her best day as her mind had a habit of running in circles and she tended to get worked up over things at times.

Fire spells had been the easiest for her to learn and it was all thanks to Nash Amell. Christen wasn’t sure what to expect when she met the other mage origin character, other than being related to Hawke from the second game and that the character may have siblings somewhere according to what she remember reading on a wiki page once, there wasn’t really much to know beforehand. Meeting the boy though made Christen think Nash Amell was one of the biggest pricks she had ever met!

It all started a couple of days after she had arrived in the other Christen’s body. She had used the rest of the first day to get use to everything around her and for Gabe to start teaching her magic. The next day had been wondering around to get to know the tower. Again, it wasn’t too much different from the game, just bigger and with more people in it. Circle mages Christen found were left to their own devices instead of being in lessons. Most of them studied other branches of magic or anything else that caught their fancy.

The next day had started out much the same. Christen saw Lily, Jowan’s girlfriend from the game though she had yet to see Jowan, and somebody she thought might be Finn from the Witch Hunt game. She had yet to see Anders and tried to remember if he was locked up at this time or not from his last escape attempt. And had yet to see Cullen but then again maybe she had and he had been wearing a helmet at the time.

“Oh my god, is this what you do every day?” Christen asked in a low bored voice as Gabe looked at the books on the shelf next to them. “I mean I like to read and everything but fuck this is boring.” Gabe chuckled softly and turned away from the books.

“It can be,” He agreed. “But both of us are too new to the circle to be sent out to help people, Irving will want us to wait a few years.”

“With Templar watch-dogs of course,” Christen said with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes, escorted by a Templar,” Gabe agreed. “Only the Senior Enchanters are trusted enough to be out on their own.”

“Man this place is fucked up,” Christen said with a sigh as she turned to look at the books. She was trying to find something interesting to look at, her and Gabe had hit a road block on the whole magic thing, other than a weak healing spell she hadn’t been able to cast anything else. It was depressing to say the least. She hoped that maybe there was a book about dragons she could find to distract herself with, she liked dragons as much as she liked Elves and Werewolves.

“I’m telling you Jowan, I think I’m going to go through my Harrowing soon,” A voice said from the other side of the bookcase. Christen felt her ears twitch and turned slightly toward the sound, finding the sensation to be very strange feeling and reminded her of an animal’s ear turn.

“How can you even be sure?” A second asked, one she recognized as Jowan’s voice from the game.

“Irving is pushing me to learn as many spells as possible and to study the Fade,” the first voice said, Christen suspected that this was Amell since he was with Jowan. The voices were getting closer and she turned to get her first glance at Nash Amell.

He was handsome she supposed, with short golden blond hair and blue eyes. He possessed a narrow face and a crooked cocky smile. Honestly she didn’t think much on his looks seeing as how he was too young for her, she still thought herself as in her 30’s even though the body she was in was only in its late teens. Amell stopped in surprise at seeing herself and Gabe on the other side of the bookshelf, Jowan nearly running into his back, then smirked.

“Well if it isn’t the rabbits,” Amell said in a superior tone. Christen blinked and raised her eyebrows.

“Excuse me?” She asked.

“You heard me Knife-ear,” Amell said in ‘I am better than you’ tone. Christen’s eyes narrowed and she felt a jolt of anger go through her, stepping forward and up to Amell. She didn’t let the fact she was shorter by nearly a head bother her, a lot of people she had know back home were taller than her.

“Ya wanna repeat that?” She asked in a low dark tone. Both Gabe and Jowan watched with wide eyes, Gabe’s mouth open slightly in shock, he had never seen his friend act like this.

“What, Knife-ear?” Amell asked with a sneer. “It’s what you are, always second rate to humans. I swear, I don’t know why they even let you lot be in the same part of the tower as us.” Christen growled and grabbed Amell by his robes and yanked him down to her level.

“Look buddy, if you don’t want to have your ass kicked I suggest keeping your racist comments to yourself,” She said then shoved him back. Amell stumbled backwards and nearly lost his footing. Christen ran a hand through her hair and gave him a smirk of his own. “Oh, and these two ‘rabbits’ are full on circle mages while you’re still just a little apprentice so I think you should remember than we’re a little better than you at that.”

Amell glared down at the little Elf that had dared to talk back to him and opened his mouth to say something until Jowan grabbed his arm.

“Maybe we should just leave,” Jowan said as he pulled on his friends arm. Nash Amell huffed and straightened out his robes and turned to leave.

“Blighted Knife-ear,” he said over his shoulder then yelped and ran as a ball of fire was thrown his way, Jowan sighing and following after him.

“Fuck!” Christen yelped in surprise, waving her hands in shock. Her anger at being called Knife-ear again had pissed her off and made her magic flare into a bolt of fire that she had flung Amell’s way. “Holy shit that’s hot!” Gabe quickly ran over and smothered the small fire she started before anyone else noticed.

“What was that about?” He asked.

“What? He’s a fucking prick, I wasn’t going to just stand there and let him insult me,” Christen said as she looked at her hands. “Unless you mean the fire ball, then I don’t know but that was fucking cool as hell. Wonder if I can do it again?” Gabe shook his head in amusement.

“I think that is the first time that any Elf has ever stood up to Nash like that,” He said.

“What, haven’t you ever done it?” Christen asked as she looked up from her hands, she had been trying to get the fire to come back again. Gabe shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“I never really let it bother me, I know Nash’s feelings toward Elves, he’s is the same as most humans,” he said. “It’s the same all over. How are Elves treated on your world?”

“Well, depending on who you ask, they don’t exist. I mean they are considered a fantasy race, so are dwarves and dragons. I think they do believe in Elves in Iceland, or Greenland I’m not sure on that, but they are little tiny people, not like you know,” Christen waved a hand at her body. “But for most folk they aren’t real, just the subject of books, comics, games, stuff like that. People who are racist like that ass-hat usually focus on stuff like skin color, religion, where people are from, stuff like that. So the way he talks doesn’t bother you?”

“I learned to ignore him, he and I were both Irving’s students when I was an apprentice,” Gabe said. “I can’t change the way people think so I don’t try.”

“What about his friend then? Jowan?” Christen asked.

“Jowan? I’ve gotten along pretty well with Jowan, I don’t think he’s ever been bothered by anyone being an Elf or not,” Gabe said. “We’re friends, though somewhat distant, he mostly spends his time with Nash.”

“Huh… well help me figure out how to make that fire come back,” Christen said, there was no point in thinking on it now. She wasn’t going to let Amell walk all over here because he couldn’t learn to keep his trap shut.

 

************

 

That night Christen yawned as she wondered the halls of the tower after hours. She found she couldn’t go to sleep so had left to try and clear her head. Usually she would get on the computer or play a video game or watch a movie to try and relax but she didn’t have any of those things now.

It had taken some practice but she was able to call the fire back to herself with ease now. The first couple of times she had nearly burned her hands but now she could hold a fire ball in her hands without it hurting her. It was a strange feeling to have the flames dance around her hand, the heat surrounding her without hurting. Gabe had said some mages worked best with one or two different elements, her’s seemed to be fire. She didn’t think that was too surprising, she loved fire related stuff, use to burn items as a kid and loved fire spells or fire type monsters in games. With the practice with conjuring the fire helped her use her mana better as well and could use the healing spell a bit better as well. She still had a hard time thinking of terms of the game spells, wanting to call out the spells from Final Fantasy instead.

The tower looked very different at night, most of the torches were put out, leaving the hallways and rooms to be covered in shadows. It didn’t bother her at the least, she found she could see pretty well in the dark and remembered that Elves and Dwarves had some sort of night vision, or at least they saw way better than humans when it was dark. She remembered that Elves eyes were suppose to glow like a cat’s eyes at night if light hit them. The human in Elven body thought it was pretty cool in fact, and it made sneaking around the tower so much easier. She wasn’t sure if Circle Mages were allowed to be up wondering the halls at night time or not.

She saw very little of the Templars, one had been patrolling one of the hall ways but it had been easy to track his or her movement as they had been carrying a lantern so they could see. Another Christen had came across was slumped slightly against the wall, their head nodding up and down as they fought sleep until finally they lost the battle and the head hung down toward their chest. She had to keep from snorting in laughter and shook her head as she snuck past the guard.

 _‘Great guards you got there Greagoir,’_ She thought to herself as she slipped into the library, looking around. She didn’t see any Templar guards in the room, either they didn’t think any Mage would come in here in the middle of the night or had gone to find someplace to take a nap. Either way, the room was empty.

Christen looked around the room, there were some windows at the top of the room that let in natural light and the light from the moon cast shadows all around the room. It was… a little eerie looking and she shivered slightly as she softly closed the door behind her.

 _‘I wonder if this place is haunted. With the way mages are treated here, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two ghost hung around….’_ Christen thought as she slowly walked around. Her ears twitched as she thought she heard the sound of a turning page and soft muttering. Curious, Christen followed the sound to a far corner of the library but didn’t see any one there. About to write off the sounds as her imagination or sounds of a ghost and turning to walk away, a glint of light caught her attention behind a bookcase. Blinking, she crept closer and peeked through a gap in the shelves.

There, on the other side of the shelves, sat Jowan on the floor with a couple of books open in front of him, a candle his own light source, and had a knife in his hand about to cut his wrist.

“Whoa dude! Don’t cut your wrist you idgit,” Christen yelped as she squeezed through the gap and grabbed the startled Jowan’s hand before he could cut himself.


	2. Chapter 2

This Ain’t Kansas, Toto

Author: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragon Age, it’s property of BioWear. But the original character ‘Christen’ does belong to me.

Thankies to me best minion Asilyessam for betaing/proof reading behind me

Warning: A wee bit of spoilers for The Calling.

 

Chapter 2

 

“Whoa dude! Don’t cut your wrist you idgit,” Christen yelped as she squeezed through the gap and grabbed the startled Jowan’s hand before he could cut himself.

“W-what?” Jowan asked then paled as he realized that he had been caught practicing blood magic. Christen realized the same thing and sighed, she knew she couldn’t keep Jowan from learning blood magic and really had no plans to, she had to let this play out so Jowan could escape the tower soon.

“I said don’t cut your wrist,” She repeated, turning Jowan’s hand palm up and traced her fingers over his wrist. “You could nick the veins there and bleed out. Ya gonna do this whole blood mage thing, ya gotta be careful where you cut yourself or ya gonna end up killin’ yourself.”

“O-oh,” Jowan said then gulped. He was surprised the Elf wasn’t screaming at the top of his lungs for the Templars to come and drag him away. Then again, he didn’t know Christen all that well, the Elf was usually quiet and stayed in the background. Jowan knew he was best friends with Gabe and that for the most part, the level headed Elf was the only person Christen ever really spoke to willingly. Today as the first time he had ever seen Christen act in any other way when he attacked Nash for calling him a Knife-ear. When Christen let go of his hand he pulled it to his chest and wrapped his other hand around his wrist.

Christen blew a piece of hair out of her face and turned to leave.

“Well I’ll just leave ya to it then, I just hope you know what you’re doing,” She said.

“W-wait,” Jowan said as he jumped to his feet and laid a hand on the Elf’s shoulder. Christen turned back around and looked up at him.

“What?”

“You’re not going to tell the Templars are you?” Jowan asked in a worried whisper. Christen blew a strand of hair out of her face again and tried to think of how she could assure Jowan.

“Look I’m not gonna narc on you,” She said.

“Narc?” Jowan repeated with a confused look.

“Tell on ya, rat you out ya know?” The smaller mage said.

“Oh,” Jowan said in understanding. “Ummm… thank you.” He walked back over to the books and started to pack them up, thinking that it might be a good idea to leave for the night in case someone else came along who wasn’t as forgiving or understanding. Christen leaned back against bookshelves and watched him for a moment biting her lip.

She liked Jowan, he was one of her favorite NPC’s from the game and had always felt bad for the hand that life dealt him. The fact that he truly regretted what he did, or would do, showed to her at least that he wasn’t a bad person. Sometimes people were pushed into doing acts that they usually wouldn’t, and the way the mages were treated to her counted as a pushing point into learning blood magic. Heck, if she had grown up in this world as a mage and inside one of these towers, she _might_ do the same thing… maybe. She wanted to help him but didn’t really know how. He was already in too deep and if he hadn’t already been caught and Greagior told what he was doing, someone would soon.

“Jowan, when you leave the tower, you need to be careful,” She blurted out before she could stop herself.

“What?” Jowan asked looking up with a frown. How did Christen know he was considering running away with the tower, hoping to start a new life with Lily? They talked about it plenty of times but nothing had pushed him to that point yet.

 _‘Crap,’_ Christen thought, she hadn’t meant to say that but she guessed it was too late now. Still… maybe if she could convince Jowan to keep out of trouble and away from Loghain, not only would he be safe but Arl Eamon wouldn’t be poisoned either. She walked over and knelt in front of the teen. “When you escape the tower you need to keep a low profile. Keep off the main roads, stay out of towns as much as you can, and for god’s sake get rid of those robes, they scream that you are a mage.”

“W-wait, what?” Jowan asked his mouth open in shock. “Wait, a-are you giving me advice?”

“Yeah, sure,” Christen said with a shrug. “I’m just saying, you need to keep a low profile. Learn now to hunt and how to do things like sew and stuff. Tan leather, just don’t give yourself away as a mage.”

“Wait, how do you even know all this?” Jowan asked with a confused frown.

“Let’s just say… I’ve got some abilities… seer type stuff,” Christen said her mind racing for a reason to cover up the reason why she knew Jowan was leaving.

“Seer?” Jowan repeated. “You can see into the future.”

“Well… a possible future,” Christen said with another shrug of her shoulders. “Look Jowan, I think you got dealt a bad hand in life and I can see why you wanna go through with this.” She picked one of the books on blood magic and waved it a tiny bit. “I think you’re a good guy and I hate to see ya get hurt or into trouble. You’re gonna be found out, if you haven’t been already. Your girlfriend is gonna find some paperwork here soon about you being made Tranquil, that should tell you I’m telling the truth hopefully. You just need to pick up some non-mage skills, keep yourself off the radar.”

Jowan did not understand some of the things Christen was saying like ‘off the radar’ but he got the gist of it.

“Why are you helping me?” He asked softly.

“Like I said, I think you’re a good guy but you could end up making some bad decisions in your life… but with a little forewarning maybe you can save yourself from that,” Christen said as she stood up. Jowan finished gathering the books and stood as well.

“I’ll…. I’ll keep all this in mind,” he said at last, not sure if he should believe the Elf or not.

“Alright, that’s all I ask,” Christen said with a nod then remembered something else. “Look Jowan, one other thing and this one you got to promise me even if you don’t believe me. When you get out, _don’t trust Loghain Mac Tir._ ”

“Loghain Mac Tir, the Hero of the River Dane and Teyrn of Gwaren?” Jowan asked surprised. “Why wouldn’t I trust him? Why would I ever even meet him?”

“Look Jowan, some stuff is going to happen really soon, life changing stuff,” Christen said with a sigh. “Loghain is gonna be right in the middle of all that and he’s gonna do something… big. Just trust me when I say you want to avoid him as much as possible, don’t trust him.”

“Alright… I’ll keep that in mind,” Jowan said, still confused but figured he could at least promise to listen. He didn’t think he would ever meet one of Ferelden’s greatest heroes but it Christen seem very serious about this and if the Elf was some sort of seer like he claimed Jowan figured it would be something he should remember. “I think I should head back to my bed… good night Christen.”

Christen nodded and watched as Jowan left, the area plunged into darkness as he took the candle with him. She breathed a sigh of relief and slid down to sit on the floor, her back against the back of the bookshelves. Slowly her eyes readjusted to the soft moonlight in the library allowing her to see.

 _‘Oh boy… what did I just do?’_ She thought to herself. Honestly she hadn’t really planed on changing anything on the timeline, for the most part her plan was to get the hell out of this tower and seek out a way to get back home. Sure, like any other fans of a series, she fantasized about being a part of that universe if only for a little while, about what she could change if she could. But fantasizing about it and the reality was two very different things, and she wanted to go home badly.

She had hoped that she could find some answers on how to get back outside the tower, maybe seek out Flemeth. That old dragon of a witch might know something, it was in her character after all.

And now she might have just changed a key plot by warning Jowan… If he even heeded her advice that was.

 _‘Oh well... it is what it is. All I can do is see how it plays out. Maybe now Eamon won’t be poisoned,’_ Christen mused as she leaned her head back. _‘If he doesn’t get poisoned, no reason to go to Haven and go after the ashes… OK that might be a problem since that is where the third game starts… Crap… I hope I didn’t fuck everything up. Then again, if Loghain really wanted Eamon out of the way he could just find another flunky to poison the man so maybe things won’t be so messed up after all. I gotta be careful about what I say for now on.’_

Deciding that she should head back to bed as well, Christen stood and snuck out of the library and back to the room she shared with Gabe. She didn’t encounter any Templars along the way and sighed in relief as she reached her room. There was a low fire burning in a hearth that provided only a little warmth in the chilly room but it gave her just enough light to get back to her bed.

It wasn’t a bad bed, she certainly slept on worse in the past. She slept on better as well, it certainly wasn’t as comfy as her own bed back home but then again, wasn’t that always the case? Christen sighed as she shucked off the robes and boots she was wearing and climbed into the bed in just her undies… smallclothes… whatever they were called. Turning onto her back and crossing her arms under her head, she stared up at the ceiling in thought.

What she had just done with Jowan had given her an idea of how she might convince Duncan to take her out of the tower with him. If she could convince him that she was some sort of seer, he just may want to take her to make use of ‘his’ powers.

It would give a ready explanation as to why Christen knew what was going to happen, as long as she put a mystic spin to it.

 _‘Hmmm… maybe a seer_ and _a clairvoyant,’_ Christen amended in her mind, the second would give a quick excuse as to why she knew things about the people they were about to meet pasts. If she claimed that Gabe was some sort of anchor or trigger for her ‘powers’, it would get the boy out of the tower as well. Of course, there was always the possibility that Duncan either wouldn’t come to the tower of Magi or that he wouldn’t believe her. _‘Ok, this is plan A, gotta come up with plans B, C, and D just in case.’_

With the start of a plan in mind, Christen’s mind finally settled down and she was able to fall asleep.

 

*****************

 

The next couple of weeks were tense, really tense. There was some sort of vibe within the tower that Christen couldn’t put her finger on. Was it the Blight that was happening right now outside the tower? The mounting tension between the Mages and the Templars? The whole thing with Uldred after the ass hat of a man returned to the tower to take it over? Something else completely?

Or was she just imaging there was something there because she knew what was going to more or less happen to this world. She didn’t know but it made her jittery all the same. Gabe seemed to pick up on the vibe as well, or maybe he just picked up on how wired Christen was.

Christen further adjusted to living in the tower, and more importantly being in a male body. Now _that_ was a learning experience. It was weird all around she had to say. She still thought of herself as a woman, at least in the mental way, even as she got use to the fact that her host’s body was very much male. She blamed it on the fact that she was in fact female, at least born and felt like one in her real body back home, and the fact that no matter what this wasn’t _her_ body but one that belonged to the Christen of this world.

She had to relearn how to use the bathroom as a boy, learning how to do things like piss standing up and aiming for that little chamber pot. Oh how she _hated_ the chamber pots, they now ranked even higher that porta-pottys, at least those things had a seat you could sit on! At least the tub wasn’t too bad, Gabe as one of Irving’s favorite students got the lucky draw and got a room with a low stone tub in it that had dwarven rune etched into it that allowed water to flow. Sure it was luke warm water but still a lot better than bathing in cold water. It had been awkward the first couple of times she washed up with the male form but fuck she needed to get clean and had in time gotten used to it. In fact she had to keep herself from exploring the young fit male form, feeling like a pervert and pedophile all in one. She finally had to ask Gabe just how old the other Christen was and felt at least a little bit better when he said her Elven counterpart was 19. Still over ten years younger than her but at least he was over 18.

Gabe couldn’t understand why she bathed every day. She had to explain how it was healthier to keep a clean body as much as possible instead of bathing every few days, and less stinky as well. Thankfully Gabe saw that she made some good points and started to bathe everyday as well. If they got out of the tower like she hoped, they wouldn’t have that luxury any more.

Christen nearly had two more clashes with Nash Amell, the boy irritated her something awful and she wanted to punch the little prick in the mouth when every she heard him call Elves ‘Knife-ear’ and ‘Rabbit’. Gabe did have to drag her away from getting into a fight from a Templar when they caught the man intimidating a very young apprentice.

“Christen, you can’t keep trying to pick fights with the Templars,” Gabe finally said.

“It’s bullshit how all the mages are treated here,” Christen said with a scowl crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yes it is, we all hate it but fighting isn’t going to change anything,” Gabe said with a sigh. Christen had to keep herself from snorting, in a few years a lot of stuff was going to change she knew. Shit was going to go down in one of the circles in Orlais, which one she didn’t really know as she hadn’t read Asunder yet just The Stolen Throne and The Calling, and Anders would blow the hell out of the Chantry building in Kirkwall, both playing their part in the Mages getting off their asses and fighting against the Chantry and Templars at last. But she didn’t say anything of this to Gabe, she didn’t want to mess up the chances of either event happening.

“Yeah yeah fine,” She said at least with a roll of her eyes.

Then finally, after waiting days and days on pins and needles, Christen woke up one more and stumbled into the dining hall yawning up a storm to hear that Nash had gone through his Harrowing the night before. Many where gossiping about how fast Nash had gone through it, on par with Gabe’s timing a few weeks earlier.

 _‘Freaking finally,’_ Christen thought as she dragged close a bowl of… well she wasn’t sure what it was but seeing as how there wasn’t much of a choice in food around here it was eat this crap or starve. Was it oatmeal? Porridge? It sure wasn’t grits she knew that much. Anyway, she started to doctor the lumpy stuff in the bowl to try to make it taste a little better and wished she had coffee to drink. But they didn’t have coffee here, just tea and the only type of tea she could bring herself to drink was cold sweet tea, the wine of the south. _‘That idiot finally went through his test thingy, so that means he’ll help Jowan go get his blood from downstairs then Jowan will escape. Now I just need to see if Duncan ever showed up and put my plan into action. If we’re lucky, Gabe and me will be getting out of here today.’_ She mentally crossed her fingers as she shoved a spoon full of the… stuff… into her mouth and tried to ignore the taste.

She really hoped her plan to convince Duncan to take her and Gabe worked cause otherwise she was going to have to wait until the whole blood mage thing to escape during the chaos and try to keep hidden from the Templars. And she rather not do that as it would cut off a lot of potential ways for her to get out of this world.

Finally sick of trying to force down the whatever it was she had been eating, Christen pushed the bowl away and left the room. She nearly ran into Jowan on the way out, giving a soft scream as she jumped back.

“Fuck don’t do that,” She said holding a hand over her chest. Jowan looked up startled, he had been so lost in worry and through that he hadn’t even noticed the Elf. Christen looked into Jowan’s dark eyes, seeing the worry there, the way the young man wringed his hands together and was nearly vibrating with nervous tension. She saw the emotions flash in his eyes as he remembered their conversation the other night, so Lily had told Jowan about the papers for the Rite of Tranquility then and he knew Christen had been right.

“Oh Christen I-I,” Jowan didn’t seem to know what to say. Look around quickly, no one seem to be paying any attention to them in the hallway, Christen reached over and squeezed Jowan’s arm gently, leaning in a little so only he could hear here.

“Just remember _I_ didn’t tell on you, I don’t know who did but it wasn’t me,” She said softly. “Go ahead with your plan for getting out of here and for god’s sake please keep in mind what I told you, ya?” Jowan swallowed past the nervous lump in his throat and nodded slightly then left to go find Lily. Christen breathed softly, she hoped things worked out here.

“You, mage, what were you two speaking of?” One of the Templars walking down the hallway barked at her. Christen fought very hard to keep the look of distain off her face, gods she hated most of the Templars here.

“I was just giving him some words of encouragement, he’s a little upset that his friend Amell is moving up to a Circle Mage and he hasn’t yet,” Christen lied keeping her voice steady and clam. “I just told him that I’m sure the Enchanters will let him go through his Harrowing soon.”

The Templar stared at her, though it was hard to tell with that helmet on him, as if he was trying to detect if she was lying or not.

“Move along then, you’re blocking the hallway,” he said as last then strode past her. Christen gave a very soft sigh of relief as she hurried down the hallway to the library and up to the next floor of the tower. That had been way too close.

Upstairs Christen passed by Owain, the Tranquil man who guarded the storage room and you got the Rod of Fire from, and headed out into the hallways. She wanted to walk around a bit and see if Duncan was at the tower, crossing her fingers and hoping he was.

She was just starting to lose hope that Duncan had came to the tower, meaning she would have to fall back on her backup plan, when she heard Nash’s annoying snooty voice coming toward her. Stepping back into the shadow of one of the many statues that lined the hallway, Christen watched with excited eyes as Amell walked down the hallway with the Commander of the Gray Wardens.

Duncan looked just like he did in the game, black hair with a hint of gray within it and a black beard, dark skin from his Rivain mother, wearing a set of silver looking armor with a unique set of straps on it. The man had several different weapons strapped to his body, mostly daggers. Christen figured that was left over from his days as a thief in Orlais. Duncan’s voice was deep and sounded like how it did in the game except for the tiniest hint of an accent that sounded just a little bit French which Christen came to assume that meant it was an Orlesian accent.

As the pair passed Christen was hit by a sudden thought.

 _‘Fuck, is Amell gonna end up coming too?’_ She thought with a scowl, she hadn’t thought about that, but it was Amell or Surana’s actions in helping Jowan, either on their own or under Irving’s orders, that impressed Duncan in the game. As Duncan and Nash disappeared around a corner Christen sighed and stepped out of her hiding place. If Amell came, there was nothing for it, that is if Duncan agreed to take her and Gabe, she would have to make sure the idiot didn’t discover anything about her. Simple, right?

 _‘Yeah right, nothing is ever that simple,_ ’ Christen thought as she walked down the hallway to the small library at the end as that was where Gabe said he would be today. She saw Jowan standing in the doorway of the small chapel room the Chantry used speaking to Lily and quickly passed them by. She wondered if Amell would go to Irving or not, betraying Jowan.

After a bit of searching Christen found Gabe in the corner pouring over a book.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile when he saw her. “Quite a bit of gossip today, Nash’s Harrowing is all anyone can talk about.”

“I think it’s how short it was that’s got people impressed,” Christen said.

“True, they were the same way when I passed. Nash beat my record by 5 minutes,” Gabe said. “He’ll be lording that over me for a while.”

“Somehow that’s not surprising. Hey look, I need you to come with me,” the human in Elven body said. Gabe frowned and closed the book he was reading.

“What for?” Christen leaned in close after looking around.

“It’s for the thing I’ve been talking about,” She whispered.

“You mean…” Gabe said softly then trailed off. Christen had been going on about a way for them to leave the tower but never said just what it was. He sighed and slid the book back on the shelf next to him. “Alright, what do you need me to do?”

“Just play along, and agree with everything I say,” Christen said as she motioned for Gabe to follow. Sighing again but now highly curious Gabe stood and followed his friend out of the library. Christen led the way to the room Duncan had been given, seeing Jowan and Nash disappear into the Chantry chapel room, then knocked on the open door.

 

*************

 

Duncan watched Nash Amell leave the guest room he had been given in the tower then turned with a soft sigh once he was alone. No matter how many times he came to the tower looking for recruits, Duncan’s mind always went back to over 20 years ago the first and second times he came to the tower, when he was still a new Gray Warden. He thought briefly of Genevieve, of Kell and Hafter, of Julien and Nicolas… he thought of Utha and wondered if she was still alive and with that strange Darkspawn the Architect. He also thought of Maric and of Fiona… She hadn’t been too happy to learn Alistair had become a Gray Warden but understood the reasoning and was even grateful when she learned he had rescued her son from being a Templar.

Shaking his head slightly, Duncan gave a small sigh at Greagoir’s stubborn refusal to allow more Mages out of the tower to assist in the war. After years of friendship with Fiona, Duncan knew just what a mage was capable of and knew mages were a great help in fighting Darkspawn. He thought briefly about the young Mage he had just met, Irving had spoken highly of the lad, Nash Amell. He had been one of Irving’s two brightest students and had just passed his Harrowing in record time. Irving thought Nash could make an excellent Gray Warden and if not him, his other student Gabe Surana who was also highly talented. The Nash boy came off as… a little brash… but as the Warden’s took anyone into their Order, it wasn’t a turn off. He was curious to meet this Surana boy as well, the Warden’s needed to bolster their numbers and so far he hadn’t much luck in finding many for the joining. He had two new Wardens in the ranks from the last couple of months and he had two more recruits already waiting back at Ostagar, but to have more…

Duncan blinked and turned as someone knocked on the door of the room, catching his attention. In the doorway stood a pair of young Elven mages, both of them dressed in Circle robes.

“Yes? Can I help you?” He asked as he clasped his hands behind his back.

“Actually, it’s more like we may be able to help you,” the Elven in front with shoulder length brown hair said as he stepped forward. “Look I’m going to get right to the point, I’m a seer and I think my abilities will be a great deal of help for the Gray Wardens.”

“A seer?” Duncan asked his interest perked up a bit. “Irving didn’t mention they had any seers in the tower.”

“Well he doesn’t know, I kept my power hidden,” the Elven youth said. “My name is Christen and I can prove that I really can see into time.” Now Duncan was really intrigued and nodded for the Elf to continue.

Christen cleared her throat with a soft ‘A-hem’ and hoped to god she remembered this part right, then said in a slightly misty voice,

“Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand, vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten and that one day we shall join you.” The Elf pretended to sway very slightly and lean back against Gabe. Gabe meanwhile had to fight to keep the look of surprise off his face, just what was Christen up to? He knew his friend wasn’t a seer of any kind. Was the crazy story that the other Elf had been telling him true? That Christen’s spirit had been traded with a human woman’s from another world? Christen did mention that he… well he guessed ‘She’ if it was true… knew things about this world.

Gabe wasn’t the only one shocked, but Duncan was shocked for a whole different reason as he stared at Christen. That was the oath of the Gray Wardens, spoken at every joining. No one outside of the Gray Wardens knew that oath.

“Where did you learn that?” Duncan said.

“I told ya, I’m a seer,” Christen said as she straightened up. “I can prove it further but I need to come a little closer, I don’t think you want many people to hear this one.”

Duncan, already shocked by the Elf reciting the oath, now burned with curiosity of what else the boy would reveal. He leaned down slightly when Christen motioned, the Elf speaking softly into his ear.

“The first time you ever came to this tower, you stole a special black dagger with red veins and a dragon hilt from First Enchanter Remille’s chambers,” Christen said in a very soft tone. “This dagger was made to cancel out Darkspawn magic and protected you from the black brooches the man gave you and kept your taint from speeding up. You later killed Remille with that same dagger when you, King Maric and the Elven Mage Fiona escaped the Deep Roads and was brought back here.”

Duncan’s dark eyes were wide as he leaned back to look at Christen, a state of pure shock on his face. No one knew about that, no one still alive that is, except for Fiona. He now completely believed the Elven youth about his claims of being a Seer.

“Will you be willing to join the Gray Wardens?”

“Here’s the thing,” Christen said fighting to keep a grin off her face as she saw her ruse worked. “I’m more than happy to help you and the Wardens but if I go through the joining and become tainted, I’ll end up losing my gift. And I can’t be the only one you bring, my friend Gabe here has to go too.”

“May I ask why?” Duncan asked as he turned his attention to the other Elven Mage, guessing this was the same Gabe that Irving mentioned.

“Gabe here is my anchor, I need him nearby when I use my powers,” Christen said. “He can go through the joining though. He’s a really good mage, he would be an asset to the Wardens.”

Duncan stroked his beard in thought, the boy Christen’s powers could be useful for the order. He never heard of a Mage loosing an ability from becoming tainted but then again he didn’t know anything about Seers other than they were very rare. He vaguely remembered his mother, who was Rivain, speak very highly about Seers. And the other boy Gabe must have been Gabe Surana, Irving’s other suggestion of a Warder recruit.

“It will be dangerous,” Duncan finally warned.

“Yeah yeah, I know,” Christen said. “I could end up getting tainted if I’m not careful and become a ghoul or something just as horrible. But you don’t have to be a Grey Warden to fight the Darkspawn and I know my ability will be useful to you.”

“If you are prepared for that,” Duncan said, continuing when Christen nodded. “Then I will be honored to welcome you to the Wardens as a consultant. And you?” He asked Gabe. “Will you be willing to join the Wardens? Irving speaks very highly of you.”

Gabe gave one very quick glance at Christen who nodded slightly, her eyes telling him to accept.

“O-of course,” He said.

“Then I shall speak to Irving,” Duncan said with a kind smile. “I will meet both of you at the front doors within the hour. If you will excuse me.” The man inclined his head slightly then swept from the room back toward the First Enchanter’s office.

“What was that about?” Gabe asked in a low tone as soon as the two of them were alone. “You are not a seer.”

“I told you, I know things about this world. Enough to make it look like I can see into the future and some into the past,” Christen reminded him. “Sorry for throwing you under the bus with the whole Warden thing but I don’t think Duncan would taken both of us if both of us refused to be Grey Wardens.”

“Why did you refuse?” Gabe asked curious.

“The Wardens have… a lot of secrets, things only known to their order that like whole speech I said to Duncan,” Christen said. “I don’t know all their secrets of course, just a handful of things. Also, not everyone that joins the Gray Wardens survives the process. But you will, I know you are one of seven people that would end up surviving the process. So is Amell… who I have a feeling is gonna be coming too so don’t be surprised.” The fact she was less that trilled with that was clear in her voice. “I have no idea if your friend’s body would be able to it to survive the whole ritual so I wanted to make sure Duncan wouldn’t try to make me into one.”

Gabe sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“I can’t say I am happy about being blindsided by this… but anywhere is better than this tower I guess,” He said. “I have always heard Mages within the Wardens have greater freedom.”

“So we cool?” Christen asked.

“I’m not sure what that means but if you are asking if I am alright with all this… then yes I suppose I am. And it is too late to do anything about it now, it’s already done,” Gabe said. “We should pack our belongings if we are leaving with Duncan.”

“First chance I get, I can getting some real clothing and getting out of this dress,” Christen said dryly as they left the guest room and headed toward their shared room. Gabe chuckled softly, his strange friend had constantly complained about their robes ever since Christen’s Harrowing.

“By the way…. What is a ‘bus’?”

 

************

 

An hour later Christen and Gabe were waiting by the towers front entrance for Duncan. The Templars must have already been told they were leaving as they didn’t question why the two Elves were carrying small travel packs. Christen could only guess Greagior was unhappy about two mages getting out from under his control. She was surprised when Cullen, looking much younger and carefree that he would in a few years time, no scar above his lip and not yet tainted by the experience of being tortured by blood magic, stopped by them and said goodbye wishing them luck.

Christen was instantly reminded of what was going to happen to Cullen in a few weeks, of what Ulred would do to him and felt very bad about leaving the blond to his fate. Cullen was one of the very, _very_ few Templars she liked from the Dragon Age series. She didn’t know if there _was_ any way to save him short of asking Duncan to take Cullen on as well. How much of Cullen’s experience would go toward Kirkwall and later the inquisition? How much that would be changed without Cullen in both places or without the same outlook… No, as much as she hated it, Christen couldn’t do anything about what would happen to Cullen and that kinda made her a bit sick to her stomach. She didn’t know what could and couldn’t be changed, things were already uncertain with Jowan after all after all that she told the man.

“Everything is in order,” Duncan said from behind the two Elves as he walked up the join them. “The First Enchanter has given his blessing for both of you to come with me.”

“Neat, so we’re leaving now?” Christen asked as she slid her pack up onto her shoulder.

“Yes, we are making our way-“ Duncan trailed off as he watching something behind the two teens. Christen and Gabe turned their heads to watch as Irving, Greagior and a few Templars walked past, no doubt heading toward the doors that lead downstairs. “Excuse me, I will see what is going on. Wait here,” he said to both teens then walked off to follow the group.

Christen gave a huffing sigh and leaned back against the wall.

 _‘Well that’s my answer on whether or not Amell is coming with us,’_ She thought to herself, no doubt Duncan would return with the annoying blond in tow.

“In the Maker’s name what that about?” Gabe asked.

“Oh Amell, Jowan and Jowan’s girl Lily was down in the lower levels to get Jowan’s blood vial thingy to break it,” Christen said calmly as if this occurred every day. “Jowan’s a blood mage and he was found out, they were going to make him Tranquil so he’s going to escape.”

“Blood mage?” Gabe said in startled shocked voice. Christen nodded and watched as a figure came running down the hall toward them. It was Jowan, his hand dripping blood and his robes splattered in it. He paused at seeing the two Elves, Gabe stepping toward him but was stop by Christen putting out an arm in front of his path. Christen jerked her head toward the doors telling Jowan to get a move on. Jowan nodded slightly and ran like hell out the door. “Why did you stop me?”

“Cause this whole incident was going to happen anyway,” Christen said. “It’s one of those things that just happens. Now I don’t know if it will have the same end result, his future isn’t as clear, but him escaping the tower is. Duncan will come back with Amell in tow I bet and he’ll tell is he’s gonna be a warden too.”

And Christen was right Gabe found, Duncan returned a few minutes later with Nash who had a bit of a scowl on his face.

“Nash Amell shall be joining us,” Duncan said. Nash gave a very loud huffing sigh.

“Let me go get my stuff,” he said as he turned on his heel and headed toward the apprentice dorms. Christen thought he sounded like a sulking child.

“So I’m guessing you had to conscript him,” She said. Duncan’s lips twitched slightly but he didn’t say whether the Elf was right in her guess. She had a feeling she was, Nash didn’t look like he wanted to come willingly with their merry band. Greagior and Irving passed by them a moment later, the look that the Templar commander gave them telling Christen that Greagior was not happy. Not at all.

When Nash returned a few minutes later, he had a couple of overstuffed looking bags as his new staff slung over his shoulder. He had way more stuff than either Elf, both Gabe and Christen had taken only what they really didn’t want left behind, a couple of personal items and change of clothing.

Duncan waved his hand at the door, indicating that the three mages should go ahead of him. The door led to a cavern with a mouth that lead out onto the lake. Christen looked around as the ferry man readied the boat. It looked much like it was described in The Calling, a wide cavern with a dock that lead up to a set of stone steps. The dock had wooden crates and barrels all over it, supplies for the tower, and the walls had glowing mages stones on them. The boat looked bigger than what she thought it might be, it could easily hold the three teens, Duncan and the ferry man.

When the ferry man motioned for them to enter the boat, Nash pushed ahead of them to get into the boat first, his head held high. Christen’s ears flattened a bit and she thought about pushing the ass into the lake.

“Jerk,” She said as she climbed in next, one hand gripping the side to keep from falling as the boat rocked a bit side to side as Gabe and Duncan climbed in next. As they exited the cave, Christen blinked at the harsh sunlight that reflected off the lake. “Owwwww…. Wish I had my sunglasses right now.” Gabe gave her a confused look wondering what ‘sunglasses’ were. Nash ignored them both, still sulking as he bent over, his shoulders hunched up.

“So where are we going?” Gabe asked.

“We will join the king’s army at Ostagar,” Duncan explained.

“How many recruits do you got?” Christen asked curious, wondering if Duncan had managed to get each Warden from the origin story lines.

“Only two others,” Duncan replied.

 _‘And those would be Jory and Daveth,’_ Christen mused. _‘So I guess Gabe and the idiot will be the only Wardens with Alistair.’_ The group fell into silence again and Christen looked out across the lake, watching as the tiny tavern next to the huge broken bridge slowly came closer and closer.

Now that her plan on getting out of the tower worked, Christen mused on her next plan of action which was to talk to Flemeth as soon as possible. She didn’t know if the old woman would be able to help her any, or if the witch would help, but it was the best place she could think to start. Solas was, if she was not mistaken, still asleep at this point in the timeline. And like Flemeth, Christen wasn’t even sure Solas would or could help. Still, they were the two most powerful people she knew of and Flemeth was her only possible choice in asking.

Christen blinked as the boat bumped up against the dock, she hadn’t noticed that they already made it across the lake from the tower.

“We need to pick up a few supplies,” Duncan said as he led the three teens into the tavern. “Tents and bed rolls for all three of you.”

“Better than sleeping on the bare ground,” Christen said as they entered the darken tavern. Duncan walked over to the man behind the counter, Christen guessed the man doubled as a merchant or maybe a warehouse foreman for the supplies that went to the tower. Seeing as Duncan was going to be a while, the three teens sat down at one of the tables to wait.

“Can I get you three anything?” A dwarven woman asked as she came over. Christen picked out pretty quick that this was the dwarf woman that Oghren would end up shacking up with and having a kid with in a little over a years time. She couldn’t remember the woman’s name off the top of her head though.

“No, we’re good,” Christen said before Nash could open his mouth no doubt to try to order something alcoholic. “The man we’re with there, the Grey Warden, is just picking up a few things and I’m sure we’ll be on our way.”

“Well if you need anything call me over,” the dwarf woman said with a smile before turning and walking away to speak to another patron.

“Why did you do that?” Nash asked in a hissing tone. Christen snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. Man it was weird not having any breasts.

“Like you need to be getting drunk right now,” She said. “I’m sure Duncan would be ticked off if you did get drunk when we’re fixen to be traveling.”

“Like I care what the Gray Warden wants,” Nash mumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest and hunched down in his seat pouting like a spoiled 5 year old that didn’t get his way. Christen sighed and rolled her eyes as she shook her head, Gabe just looked amused.

 

*************

 

Christen was now doubly sure of a few things. Firstly, she _hated_ camping. She was never a great huge fan of it to start with. She liked nature walks just fine but the whole camping in a tent part and sleeping on the ground she could do without. In a cabin or a RV sure, she could handle a bit better then, but normal camping. Yeah, not her thing. And she didn’t even have an air mattress! Yes Christen knew she was whining, at least to herself, but she really hated camping.

There was a least one good thing about being male and camping, when she needed to piss all she had to do was find a tree. Better than popping a squat.

Secondly, the human-trapped-in-an-elf-body was about ready to _kill_ Nash Amell. The boy was constantly complaining about everything! It was grating on her nerves. Yes, she didn’t like camping anymore than he did, but she didn’t verbally bitch about it. At least not much, maybe a couple of times to Gabe when the others weren’t around. But Nash complained about having to camp, having to walk everywhere, having to carry his pack which just got heavier and heavier… the list went on and on!

Thirdly… Ferelden was a lot more gorgeous than Christen could even imagine. It still had that surreal look to it, like she was looking at a really good HD quality 3D graphics, but that didn’t take away from the beauty of the area. The trees and grass were a vibrant shade of green, the sky was so blue and the air smelt so clean. No smog or other pollutants in the air. It spoke to her soul and made her feel at ease…. Now if that idiot Nash would just _shut up for five damn minutes!_

“Stupid Elves should be the one carrying all this stuff,” Nash was huffing to himself in anger. “Not my place… could be back cozy in the tower… this isn’t work for a human.” Christen could feel a tick start over one eye and her hand clutched in anger, gritting her teeth. “All they’re good for… work and fucking…”

“Ok! That’s it!” Christen screamed as she dropped her pack and launched herself at Nash with a roar of challenge. Nash gave a startled scream as Christen bowled into him, knocking him onto his back. “Shut up already you prissy little asshole!” She started kicking, punching and biting Nash as he tried to fight her off.

“Christen!” Gabe yelped in surprise and started forward but was stopped by Duncan who held an arm out in front of him.

“No,” Duncan said calmly. “Let them resolve this themselves.” He was interested to see if how this turned out, he knew nothing about Christen’s skill and wanted to see what the Eld could do. Irving had been shocked when Duncan had requested to take the Elf with him and had no real idea just how well the boy would fare in a fight though he had to have some ability to pass his Harrowing. “If this skirmish turns to magic, then we shall stop him.”

“I’m more afraid that Christen will end up killing Nash,” Gabe said with a gulp.

“Don’t you say one more thing about Elves!” Christen was back on her feet, one hand fisted in Nash’s robes by the neck and was landing a few good punches on the mage. “Don’t you say anything about me! About Gabe or any other Elf! Get off your high horse and fucking deal with carrying your own stuff. Capiche?”

“Yes yes, stop!” Nash said, his hand curled over his face as he tried to protect himself. Christen snorted and let go of Nash at last then stomped off in anger.

“Maker’s breath,” Gabe gasped, Nash’s nose was crooked, he had a split lip and had the start of a black eye. Gabe shook his head and took off after Christen who was standing next to a tree off the road a little bit down the way holding her abused hand. “Christen, what was that about?”

“Huh?” Christen looked up as Gabe approached, she had a worn out look on her face. The burst of anger had drained her a bit. “Oh, got pissed off at that prissy little preppie and just snapped.”

“I think you more than just snapped,” Gabe said as he grabbed Christen’s hand to look at the damage. The knuckles were split and bloody. “You beat the shit out of him.”

Christen shrugged her shoulders then winced as that pulled at a bruise.

“Little fucker had it coming, I wasn’t going to let him keep talking that way,” She said. “If he’s racist toward Elves, fine, but he needs to keep it to himself. I wasn’t going to take his shit anymore and there ain’t any Templars to stop me now.”

“It was still foolish,” Gabe said as he healed Christen’s hand. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Eh, few bruises and scratches, he got a few times before I got a good hold on him, but I can live with it,” Christen said as she flexed her hand feeling no pain. “Hee, sometimes magic is awesome.” Gabe just shook his head again.

“Come on, let’s return,” he said. Christen agreed and walked back to where Duncan and Nash were waiting. Nash quickly adverted his eyes, not wanting to look at Christen, she didn’t feel bad about that.

“Sorry I snapped back there Duncan,” Christen said instead to the older man in the group.

“Yes… well… I ask you not to do that again if you can,” Duncan said.

“He keeps his trap shut and keeps his racist comments to himself, I’ll be able to ignore him,” Christen said as she grabbed the bag she dropped and pulled it back on. Duncan nodded once, he had his own fair share of problems with people in the past and now. When he was much younger he would perhaps reacted much in the same way so he was willing to overlook the two mages fighting as long as it didn’t happen that often or in the middle of a battle.

“Then let us continue,” Duncan said to the three young mages. “Ostagar awaits.”


	3. Chapter 3

This Ain’t Kansas, Toto

Author: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragon Age, it’s property of BioWear. But the original character ‘Christen’ does belong to me.

Thankies to me best minion Asilyessam for betaing/proof reading behind me

Author Note: Okay, so well over a year since I updated this, but I have been working on this chapter on and off, it’s just not one of my main projects. But I’m trying out shorter chapters so I might be able to post most in general.

I’ve gotten a twitter account in the meantime, you can follow me @usa_tiger1983 where I post updates and fic recs and all that stuff.

 

 Chapter 3

 

Christen nearly cried when Ostagar came into sight. Duncan had been pushing the three mages for almost a week to make it to the ruins in good time from the tower. Nash had been keeping his distance from Christen, which was good because after a few days, no _hours_ of almost constantly walking except for when they stopped at night or had a short break during the day, the human-in-elf woman was not in the mood to deal with the brat. Her feet were numb with pain, her legs and lower back was killing her, she hadn’t have a decent night sleep in days… all around she was miserable.

She tuned out Duncan and the boys’ conversation about the Ostagar ruins, she knew about it already after all from her many play throughs of the game.

“It’s something, isn’t it,” Gabe asked as he dropped back to talk with his friend.

“Yeah it’s something alright,” Christen said as she dragged one foot in front of the other. It was going to be a bloodbath come that evening, oh that was something that really made her stomach turn. She wanted to badly to tell Duncan about what Loghain was going to do, that Calian, the Grey Wardens and the bulk of the army was going to be slaughtered by the Darkspawn. She knew how the Doctor felt in Doctor Who when faced with events he knew he couldn’t change now; it was _not_ a good feeling.

Everyone’s attention as drawn to the entrance of the ruins as a man with golden blond shoulder length hair and golden armor came forward to greet Duncan, followed by two regular soldiers acting as guards. Duncan seemed extremely surprised to see the younger man as he greeted the young king.

 _‘So this is Calian in the flesh huh,’_ Christen thought to herself as she studied the blond. He looked a lot like Maric, his father, did on the front cover of the Stolen Throne she decided. The resemblance to Alistair was also pretty strong, even more so than it had been in the game. How people didn’t notice how much alike the pair looked was mind boggling… or maybe people did notice and didn’t say anything outside of gossip.

“Allow me to introduce you, your Majesty,” Christen heard Duncan said, right she needed to start paying attention now.

“No need to be so formal, Duncan. We’ll be shedding blood together, after all,” Cailan said with a little laugh as he approached the mages. “Ho there, friends! Might I know your names?”

“I’m Nash Amell your majesty,” Nash said his voice taking on a very proper tone as he bowed slightly to the older blond. “The Maker has blessed us a chance to fight by your side.”

 _‘Brown noser,’_ Christen thought with a roll of her eyes as Cailan gave a little polite laugh, he had to have heard all kinds of crap like that being king she bet.

“My name is Gabe Surana,” Gabe said as he placed a hand across his chest and bowed his head just a tiny bit.

“Name’s Christen…” Christen started to say when Cailan turned his attention to her then blinked. What the hell was her counterpart’s last name; she never learned it since being here and had no idea if it was the same as hers. God she hoped not, this was weird enough she didn’t want to have another thing in common with her Elfy-boy self. “Ya know, let’s just stick with that.”

“Well welcome all of you. The Grey Wardens are desperate to bolster their numbers, and I, for one, am glad to help them,” Cailan said smiling. “I understand all three of you hail from the Circle of Magi? I trust you have some spells to help us in the coming battle?”

“Of course sire,” Nash said puffing out his chest. “I was the First Enchanter’s personal student.”

“So was Gabe ya numbskull,” Christen said dryly ignoring the glare the young man sent her way. Duncan covered his mouth to hide a coughing laugh while Cailan grinned.

“Excellent. We have too few mages here, more is always welcome,” the king said then turned to Duncan with a small sigh. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but I should return to my tent. Loghain waits eagerly to bore me with his strategies.”

“Your uncle-“ Christen tuned Duncan and Cailan out again.

“What is your problem?” Nash hissed at her under his breath while Duncan was distracted by the king.

“There isn’t any need for you to be an ass kisser,” Christen whispered. “You look like an idiot with all your boasting. Of course, you always look like an idiot.”

“Why you rotten knife eared-“ Nash started to say.

“Do you remember the last ass whooping you got; you really want another one in front of your king?” Christen said with a shark-like grin.

“Ahem,” Duncan said catching their attention. Cailan and his guards were long gone now. “If you two are quite finished.”

“Sure thing Duncan,” Christen said with false cheerfulness as she walked past the Gray Warden commander to walk with Gabe. Nash was grinding his teeth behind him, Maker he hated that Elf.  “So, I’m guessing the king is hoping finally have an adventure? Doesn’t seem to take this whole Blight thing seriously does he.” Duncan winced a bit at the words and gave an uncomfortable cough.

“What the king said is true, they’ve won several battles against the Darkspawn here,” he said as followed the trio of mages. “But despite the victories so far, the Darkspawn horde grows larger with each passing day. By now, they look to outnumber us. I know there is an Archdemon behind this but I cannot ask the king to act solely on my feeling.”

“Don’t worry Duncan, we know you and the other Wardens are right,” Christen said.

“I suppose the idea of this being a real Blight is terrifying,” Gabe said. “No one really wants to admit it.”

“That’s gonna get a lot of people killed,” Christen muttered in agreement.

“Ha! Well with my spells, we’ll be able to beat back the Darkspawn easily,” Nash boosted ignoring how Gabe and Christen rolled their eyes and Duncan coughed a little to cover a laugh.

“Yes, speaking of, we should proceed with the ritual without delay,” Duncan said then looked at Gabe and Nash. “Feel free to explore but do not leave the camp. Find another Gray Warden by the name of Alistair, when you are ready, seek him out and tell him to summon the other recruits.” Gabe and Nash both bowed their heads in acknowledgement then left when Duncan waved them off.

“Whoa wait, what about me?” Christen asked confused.

“You are free to explore the camp as well, but there is no need for you to join the others in preparing for the ritual,” Duncan said. “Or you can join me at the Gray Warden’s camp. Either way I have business I need to attend too.”

“Yeah sure, I gotcha,” Christen said nodding. “Warden stuff. I’m a big gr-guy, I can entertain myself,” she added, just barely catching herself from calling herself a ‘girl’. Gods this whole gender issue sucked. Duncan didn’t seem to notice or care about her almost slip, just nodding his head and heading across the bridge. More or less alone now, Christen huffed and crossed her arms over her chest while blowing at a strand of hair hanging in her face. “Well fuck, now what am I suppose to do?”

She had assumed that she would be going out with the others while they gathered the vials of Darkspawn blood for the ritual and those documents they needed. That way she could get a chance to talk to Flemeth about her situation but now that was going to have to wait until after the battle.

 _‘It makes sense for me not to go,’_ Christen reasoned as she started walking across the bridge, doing her best not to look over the sides. She really fucking hated heights and parts of the bridge had no rails making her walk very quickly to get to the ruins on the other side. _‘I mean, I’m not going to be doing the ritual thing and they have some weird thing about tradition I guess. Still sucks, I want to talk to the dragon lady.’_ She sighed deeply as she made it to the safety of the other side and walked into the ruins.

She stopped in shaded spot and watched the activity of the camp. It was a bit like organized chaos, people were running back and forth like chickens with their heads cut off. There were mabaris barking somewhere in the camp. She could see a bunch of poor elves that looked overworked as they ran errands all over the place. And she could hear the voice of that Chantry person droning on and on in the background about the Maker or some crap.

Christen considered what she could do to make the time go by faster, tapping her fingers on her leg. A guest of wind blew through the camp and stirred the edge of her robes, reminding her of something that she really wanted to do, get some pants and get the hell out of the robes. Only… she didn’t have much in the way of money… in fact she didn’t have any money at all. She wondered if Duncan could lend her enough coin to buy something.

“Hey there!” Christen gave a high pitch scream and jumped, spinning around on to face the person who snuck on up her only to trip over the edge of the robes and fall over onto her back.

“Oww…” she groaned loudly.

“Maker’s breath!” the person who scared her to start with said.

“Good job, you nearly scared him to death,” another voice said. Christen blinked as the sun was suddenly blocked out as two heads appeared over her.

“Are you alright?” the first person said.

“Fuck you nearly gave me a heart attack,” Christen said as she sat up rubbing the back of her head and took the chance to look at the other two.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” the same person who had scared her said. It was an Elf guy in his late teens or maybe early 20’s, with messy looking red hair that looked closes the same shade as a carrot, and had a scattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. His eyes were a pretty blue color and were looking at her in concern.

“Yeah it’s fine,” Christen said as she pulled herself up off the ground. “Just don’t go sneaking up on people.” She glanced over at the other figure, a young human woman with long black hair tied up in braids and bright shade of green eyes.

“Sorry,” the elf apologized again. “We just heard about you from Duncan and wanted to come meet you.”

“And you are?” Christen asked.

“Oh, sorry!” the elf said. Christen thought the younger elf should did apologize a lot. “I’m Feyndor Tabris, you can just call me Fey for short, and this is-“

“My name is Ella Cousland,” the woman finished for him then laughed softly. “Sorry, he gets very excitable, a lot like mabari pup.”

“Hey!” Fey said in mock offence but was grinning widely. By their feet a ‘woof’ sounded and Christen instantly stepped back as a _huge_ mabari came up.

“Dude!” She yelped in surprise.

“That’s my mabari Max,” Ella said smiling as she knelt down next to the mabari. “Don’t worry, he won’t bite. He’s really just a big ol’ puppy. Aren’t you Maxie?” she scratched the sides of Max’s neck and behind his ears, the dog panting happily and his stub of a tail seeming to go 100 mph as it wagged. Max looked up at his mistress with pure adoration then started to circle around Christen once Ella had stood up, sniffing at the Elf’s feet and legs.

“Man, that is one freaking big ass dog,” Christen said holding out a hand for Max to sniff, the mabari’s nose wet and cold as it pressed against the skin. Ella giggled softly.

“I know my fa-father,” the young noble woman stumbled over the word slightly, a look of grief passing over her face before continuing,”He used to say Max was really a small horse in disguise.”

“I’d believe it, he looks almost as big as a Shetland pony,” Christen said as she petted Max. Ella and Fey traded confused looks, not knowing what a Shetland pony was.

“So you’re a mage right?” Fey asked instead looking excited again. “From that mage’s tower off Lake Calenhad?”

“Yeah…” Christen said slowly, eyeing Fey as the other elf started bouncing on his heels.

“What’s it like to use magic?” he asked. “I always thought magic was fascinating. I mean most magics, not blood magic of course I know that’s bad, but the rest of it has always sounded fascinating. I wish was a mage sometimes so I could use magic. What’s it like living in that tower? How much magic do you know? Duncan said you were a seer?”

“Whoa whoa whoa there bucko, slow down,” Christen said holding up her hands. Fey blushed and rubbed his neck.

“Sorry,” he said with a little nervous laugh. Christen shook her head in amusement and even Ella was laughing softly behind her hand. She looked around and saw a few nearby people eyeing them.

“It’s okay but maybe we should move this conversation somewhere else,” Christen suggested jerking her thumb at the on-lookers. “I’ll answer yer questions but them folk over there are starting to look like nervous nellies.”

“You have a very… interesting… way of talking,” Ella noted. “But I agree, we should find somewhere else to talk. Come on, there are several nice little private places here in the ruins.”

“I like the way he talks,” Fey said as he and Christen followed Ella further into the ruins.

“Hey, can we grab a bite to eat? I haven’t anything to eat in hours except a bit of jerky,” Christen asked as the scent of cooking food hit her nose. Fey’s stomach growled in agreement.

“Yeah!” he agreed, even Max barked in agreement.

“Well it seems like I have been out voted,” Ella joked as they altered their course to grab lunch.

 

************

 

Christen sighed happily as she leaned back against the broken column patting her stomach, feeling fuller than she had in a while. The meat had been a little on the tough side, and there had been no veggies to speak of except a few potatoes, and the bread had been dry and a little hard but it was hell of a lot better than the rations that Duncan had fed them on the road or the gruel she had been forced to eat in the tower. She was sure she would regret the amount she ate later but it had been worth it.

“You act like you haven’t eaten in years,” Ella said in a surprised tone.

“I haven’t had decent food in years,” Christen said patting her stomach again. “They mostly feed us bland porridge, tasteless meat and vegs or other horrible tasting gruels.”

“Why in the name of the Maker would they do that?” Fey asked between bites of his own dinner. Max was sitting by his side eyeing the bowl in the Elf’s lap and giving Fey the puppy-dog eyes hoping for a bite.

“Eh, I guess Templars think if mages got anything nice we’d suddenly all become processed by demons or something,” Christen snorted. “Or they’re just assholes. You know, I’m just gonna go with they’re assholes.”

“What what is living in that tower like?” Fey asked leaning forward eagerly. “It’s kinda a bit of a dream sometimes you know, to be a mage so we can go live in a circle. I always heard it’s much nicer than the alienage.”

“I guess I can see that,” Christen said in a somewhat flat tone. “Alienages are pretty horrible.”

“I have you know the alienage in Highever is very nice,” Ella said slightly offended.

“Yeah, but your home is just one place, other alienages are dumps,” Christen pointed out, Fey nodding in agreement. “Eh, the tower itself is pretty cool. It’s very roomy and stuff but it sucks living there. I don’t know what fantasy you people got about how mages live, but we’re treated like prisoners there. Hell, we are prisoners.”

“It is really that horrible?” Fey asked with wide blue eyes.

“Yeah,” Christen said. “Beyond the whole being taken away from your family, by force sometimes, and then locked up your whole life in a circle just cause you can use magic, there’s the verbal abuse, the physical abuse and even sexual abuse.” Both Ella and Fey looked at her in shock.

“Y-you’re serious?” Ella asked horrified.

“Of course I’m serious,” Christen said throwing her hands into the air. “Why would I joke about something like that? Templars have no problem talking down to us mages, beating us for any little wrong or just for fun, saying we looked at them funny. And you hear the stories about Templars raping some of the mages.” Fey’s face was very pale and Ella had a horrified look on her face. “I mean… I heard other Circles are a lot worse, but it’s still no cake walk.”

“Surly the Chantry wouldn’t condone something like-“ Ella started to say making Christen snort.

“You don’t think they don’t know do you?” she said. “Look, I’m not saying all Templars are assholes. Like with anyone else, you got good people in the Templars and you got bad people. Same with the Chantry. But the Chantry pretty much turns a blind eye toward the abuse mages get, they don’t care about us.”

“I don’t think the Chantry cares about anyone but themselves,” Fey whispered as he thought back to his wedding and the Chantry Mother who had stood by and let that noble prick and his men take Fey’s cousin and the other girls to have their way with them instead of calling the guards to protect the Elves.

“Eeehhh,” Christen held up her hand and wobbled it side to side. “It depends on the person like I said. There are good people, but it seems most days like there is more bad than good.” She thought of Lelianna who was a good example of a good person in the Chantry.

“Huh… I guess I have never thought of it that way,” Fey said then his nose wrinkled a bit. “I guess we never encounter any of the ‘good’ Chantry people then.”

“So what’s yall’s stories anyway?” Christen said changing the subject as she put her empty plate down next to Max so he could lick up the juices. He barked happily then attacked the plate. “How didja become Gray Wardens?” She was curious to find out just what sort of background the pair had.

“Well I guess we start with me,” Fey said. “I was at my wedding with a girl that the matchmaker had found for me, I was really nervous but she ended up being really nice and sweet. My cousin Soris was getting married too but the Arl’s son, Vaughan, and his bootlickers crashed the wedding and kidnapped Nesiara, that was the woman I was going to marry, my other cousin Shianni and a few other girls. He was a real arse, he came to the Alienage earlier harassing everyone until Shianni knocked him out with a water jug.”

“I remember Vaughan, he was always an arse. He tried to get fresh with me once,” Ella said then crossed her arms with a huff. “Tried is the key word, I kicked his arse then Fergus did so again after I was through with him.”

“I would have paid to see that,” Fey said with a laugh then sighed as his shoulders slumped. “Anyway, he crashed the wedding and took the girls. I tried to stop them but one of them hit me in the head and knocked me out. That bitch of a Chantry Mother didn’t even try to call the guards, she was only concerned about herself as if Vaughan would have been stupid enough to touch a Chantry Mother.”

“So what happened then?” Christen asked, thinking that so far it seemed on par with the game.

“Well I wasn’t going to let Shianni and the others suffer whatever that tosser had in store for them,” Fey said. “Soris agreed with me and agreed to go with me into the Arl’s estate. Duncan was there too, he’s a friend of Hahren Valendrian, and he let me borrow his blades. One of the Elves that work at the estate got us inside. We found poor Nola’s body in one of the rooms, killed her without any remorse.” Fey’s head was hanging in sorrow, Ella reached over and squeezed his shoulder in comfort.

“It should be a crime how Vaughan treated all of them,” she said. “We wouldn have never let him get away with that in Highever, Elves there have just as much rights as the humans under my family’s protection.”

“At least someone cares,” Fey said giving Ella a small smile. “So after we find Nola’s body, we tear through the rest of the estate until we find that bastard Vaughan. He… he hurt Shianni then had a _gall_ to offer me money to turn away and let him do what he wanted with the rest of the girls.” Fey gave a dark wicked smile and his blue eyes darken with anger. “He didn’t last long, I gutted him like the pig he was. Afterward I turned myself over to the guards to protect Soris and the girls but Duncan saved me by conscripting me for the Wardens. After than we traveled to Highever.”

“So that’s where you two met then?” Christen asked.

“Well… sorta,” Fey said.

“Fey wasn’t there when Duncan came to visit with Father and Howe,” Ella spat Howe’s name like a curse.

“I was in the alienage, delivering word to Nesiara and Valora’s families that they were alright,” Fey said. “And visiting a few of my cousins that live there. I didn’t meet Ella until much later than night.”

“Duncan was an old friend of Father’s,” Ella said her lips quirking up into a small smile. “He tried to hint to Father I would make an excellent Gray Warden but both Father and Mother told him no. Fergus had left for Ostagar with half our men, Father was to follow the next day but that… that _traitorous backstabber Howe_ he betrayed my family. He ordered an attack on my family’s castle… killed my sister-in-law and my sweet little nephew… tried to kill me but Max heard them coming.” She petted Max gently as he whined and placed his head on her lap.

“Man, that’s rough,” Christen said softly with wide eyes. She knew of course what happened, but the emotion in Ella’s voice as she forced herself to speak of what happen to her family… “You know, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, I am fine,” Ella said with a small shake of her here. “There isn’t much more to tell anyway. Mother and I helped those escape that were able, coming to an old secret passage that lead out of the castle. We found father very badly hurt, Duncan and Fey was there as well. Mother refused to leave Father’s side, both bade me to run… I refused, I wanted to stay and protect them, Father made Duncan take me to safety.” She gave a soft humorless laugh. “I hated him for that, but… at the same time I am grateful, I would have just died along with them. I was foolish, I know I was. I agreed to join the Wardens after that.”

“Wow…” Christen shook her head. “Yall’s stories are a lot wilder than mine, I tell you what. So it was just you two with Duncan then?”

“Oh no, there was one other person that was recruited with us,” Fey said. “A Dalish Elf, we came across her clan on the way to Ostagar.”

 _‘What, really? Mahariel too? Are all the origins wardens gonna be here?’_ Christen thought to herself. It wasn’t something she had expected; hell she hadn’t thought she would run into Coulsand or Tabris, assuming that Gabe Surana and Nash Amell would be the only Wardens.

“So am I going to meet her too then?” She asked. Fey’s face dropped in sadness and Ella sighed and shook her head.

“No, Mahariel passed away during our joining,” Ella explained.

 _‘Oh shit! The Wardens can die from the joining?’_ Christen thought to herself as her eyes widened. “She died?”

“Arialva wanted to die,” Fey said softly. “She told me. She wanted to be with her friend, I think she was in love with him.”

“Fey is right, I wasn’t close to her. She didn’t really like ‘Shems’ as she called me but she liked Fey here,” Ella winced slightly. “Most people aren’t very kind to the Dalish so I guess I can’t blame her for that. Oh… I guess you didn’t know. It’s usually supposed to stay a secret but I guess you’ll find out anyway if you stay around the Gray Wardens long enough. The joining is… well…”

“We have to drink Darkspawn blood,” Fey said his nose wrinkling in disgust. “It’s really nasty.”

“Yes, it was very unpleasant and painful but it allows us to sense the Darkspawn, if we survive that is. Not everyone does,” Ella said slowly.

“So wait… there’s a chance that Gabe can die from this,” Christen clarified.

“Yes… it’s very possible your friends or the other recruits can die. But it doesn’t mean they will,” Ella quickly added to reassure Christen.

“That jackass Nash isn’t my friend,” Christen said absently while thinking, _‘Oh crap… I though all the possible Wardens from the game would pass no matter what! I didn’t think it was possible they could die. Shit, what do I do if Gabe is killed… fuck, I hope my luck holds out and he passes… I guess jackass too…’_

“Hey hey, it’s okay,” Fey said as he shook Christen’s shoulder getting her attention back. “I mean if you’re really worried can’t you…” Here Fey stopped and looked around then leaned closer. “Look into the future and see if they survive? I mean Duncan said that’s what you can do right? You’re a seer?”

“It doesn’t really work that way, I can’t do it on command. It’s a little pre-cognitive and a little post-cognitive,” Christen explained.

“What… and what?” Fey asked confused as those were words he never heard before. Ella looked confused as well. Christen blew at a strand of hair that fell into her face then attempted describe the two abilities.

“Pre-cognition is seeing into the future, in my case I can get visions but it doesn’t mean those events I see are going to pass. It’s hazy cause the future isn’t set in stone, so I see more than one path. Plus I need Gabe when happens cause he’s my anchor otherwise I just get lost in the visions,” she said. “Post-cognition is seeing into the past, I can get little glimpses from people or areas but I can’t control it.”

“I have never heard it explained that way,” Ella said. “But I know very little about magic, other than mages are serve man not rule them.”

Christen snorted before saying in a dry tone, “Honey, _please_ , magic is nothing but a tool. It’s not some living thinking force; it’s just a skill that some people can use. Magic doesn’t force a person to be bad or good, those who abuse it would find some other way to be bad people. That Howe person isn’t a mage I take it yet he was evil, should every person like him be locked away or kill just for using a sword?”

“Oh… I… I meant no offence,” Ella said with her face flushed in embarrassment.

“I know you didn’t, but think about how it feels to be ripped from your family, locked away just cause you can do something others can’t, told all your life you’re a tool and worthless and treated like shit just cause you can use magic. To live in fear of being killed, raped, beaten or made tranquil,” Christen said. “You’re lucky, you don’t have to live with that crap but there are people who are free yet live in fear that one day they’ll be caught and killed. People who don’t hurt or bother anyone, all cause a handful of mages got too big for their britches and went into the Fade and brought something back that made Darkspawn. Now all mages are punished for it, how is that fair?”

“I-I apologize, I did not think,” Ella said covering half her face with a hand. Christen sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yeah yeah, it’s just what your taught but I don’t presume what life is like for a noble cause I’m sure it’s a lot harder than it looks,” Christen said. “And I know the Chantry pushed it down your throat but magic doesn’t come from the devil and doesn’t make people evil, people make people evil.”

“…. What’s a ‘devil’?” Fey asked after a few moments of silence.


End file.
